Today, Congressional leaders from both political parties and both legislative chambers announced additional steps to finalize a bill to replace the federal No Child Left Behind law. Both chambers passed their respective versions to replace NCLB this summer. The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 passed by a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House passed the Student Success Act. This is the first time in over 13 years that all key congressional players – Sen. Lamar Alexander, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; the committee’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray; House Education and the Workforce Committee chair John Kline, and ranking member Bobby Scott – have expressed their commitment to moving to conference and finalizing the education bill.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García issued the following statement:

“We commend the four Senate and House leaders for responding to the calls of educators across the country and swiftly moving the conference process forward. Today’s bipartisan, bicameral announcement gets us closer to finalizing an education law that reaffirms our nation’s commitment to the success of every student regardless of her or his zip code.

“The Every Child Achieves Act is proof that members can and should work across political party lines to enact student-centered policy that will improve public education, especially for those students most in need. We urge Congress to continue to stay the course as the conference negotiations advance. We remain committed to helping move the legislative process forward to improve this already strong legislation in conference, and we will not rest until a final bill has the President’s signature.

“We thank Senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray, and Representatives John Kline and Bobby Scott, for their leadership on this critical education legislation.”

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The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers. Learn more at www.nea.org.

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